Storage-battery element



J. C. SUNDBY. STORAGE BATTERY ELEMENT.

'1 ,417,214,V Patented May 23, 15:)22.

' INVENTOR. JCSZwd] MwVWWn/l Qllqll 1|| m//u l l l l l 1li ab UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN CLARENCE SUNDBY, `OF ENDERLIN, NORTH DAKOTA, ASSIGNOR T SUNDBYBATTERY &'MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF ENDERLIN, NORTH DAKOTA, A GOR-roRArIoNoF NORTH DAKOTA.

STORAGE-BATTERY ELEMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 23, 1922.

Application led September 7, 1920. Serial No. l108,708.

T 0 all whom t mayv concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN CLARENCE SUNDBY, a citizen of the UnitedStates, re-

siding at 'Enderlim in the county of Ransom and State of North Dakota,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Storage-BatteryElements, of which the following is la specification, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to storage batteries, and particularly to theconstruction of the battery plates or battery elements for av Plantebattery.

The general object of this invention is to so form vthe battery platethat it will not unduly buckle and to minimize this buckling as muchaspossible and thus prevent damage being done to the separators be- Ytween the two, and in this connection t0 provide a battery plate orelement so constructed that slight buckling may occur at a large numberof points and thus prevent a large'buckling yof the plate as a whole.

A further ob] ect is to so form the battery element that all gas bubbleswhich may form Aon every overhanging surface of the element willindtheir way to channels whereby they may rise to the top of theelement.

' And another obj ect is to so construct this form of element that theelectrolyte may have free circulation, and to so form the passagesthrough which the electrolyte circulates that there will be no surfacewhose Y plane is horizontal for the gas bubbles to collect on.' A

Another object is to provide a battery element having a maximum ofactive sur-v face-that is surface in contact with electrolyte-inproportion to its height, width and thickness. Y

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective view with the element inverted toshow the lower end thereof.

The battery element or plate which is illustrated in the drawings isdesigned to be used in a Plante storage battery where there is no leadoxide or other active material pasted upon the plates or elements. Theplate illustrated is cast or otherwise formed of antimonial klead or anyother suitable composition of this character. This plate or element,which I have designated 17 as a whole, is formed to provide a series ofvertical grooves 18 extending downward the entire length of the platedisposed at equal spaced distances and extending inward from one face ofthe plate. The opposite face of the plate is formed with like grooves18a which also extend vertically and extend inward from the face of theplate but which are alternately disposed with reference to the grooves18. Tntersecting the grooves 18 and extending inward from the face a ofthe plate is a series of transverse grooves 19 which are disposed thesame distance apart as the grooves 18, but which do not intersect thegrooves 18 at a right angle thereto but at an inclination to thehorizontal, as illustrated most clearly in Figure 1. On the face b ofthe plate there is a like series of grooves 19a which also extend at aninclination to the horizontal and intersect the grooves 18a and whichare disposed alternately or in staggered relation to the grooves 19. Itwill be noted from Figure 4C that several of the uppermost grooves orchannels 19 and 19a intersect the upper edge of the plate at theintersection of the grooves 18 or 18a with the upper face of the plate,and the same is true of several of the lower groves 19 and 19a.

The intersecting grooves divide each face of the plate into a yseries ofpolygonal portions 20, and these polygonal portions 20 have extendingthrough them the apertures 21, these apertures 21 on the face a, of theplate opening into the grooves 18a and 19", and those apertures leadingfrom the face b of the plate opening into the grooves 18 and 19respectively. Each aperture 21 at the .end which opens upon an outerface of the plate is countersunk, as at 22. This countersink extendsthrough the entire Y ing or deformingthe plate as al whole.

i of the plate is localized.

depth of the metal in each individual parallelogram 20. Thus eachaperture 21 is flared at its end adjacent a face of the plate and .theobject of flaring this aperture is to allow the electrolyte to circulateeasily. through the plate and come in contact with opposite faces of theplate, and the object of countersinking or flaring the extremities ofthe apertures 21 is to prevent any horizontal surface being formed uponwhich gas bubbles may collect. 1t is to be particularly noted that it isfor as like reason that the grooves. 19 are inclined to the horizontalor extend upward and toward one edge of the plate, the plate is dividedinto a series of polygonal unit portions 20 which comes in contact withelectrolyte and which are connected by connecting webs to adjacent unitportions so that the unit portions may-become warped or deformed without4war,-

n other Words, thelwarping or deformation The plate is, of course, to beprovided with the usual post 23 whereby the plates are to be connectedup with the terminals of the battery.

A battery `plate or element constructed in accordance with thisinvention will not buckle as a whole, as a practically solid plate willdo, but will buckle locally so that no strain will be exerted on theseparator between the battery plates which would tend to break the`separator and thus set up a short eircuit,'but separate parts of theelement will separately buckle under non-uniform heating. Thus the plateor element will buckle slightly at a plurality of points instead of`there being a deformation of the entire plate and the general plane ofthe element will be but slightly changed by local deformation. Theaction of buckling will tend to bring portions of the element on eachside of the intersecting grooves nearer to or further from each other,but the element as a whole will not get out of shape.

lVhile I have illustrated a detailedl form of this plate or element, andwhile preferably the element will have the form shown in detail inFigure 4, yet it is obvious that itmight be modified in lmany wayswithout Ydeparting from the spirit of theinvention.

I claim 1. A .battery element comprising a metalllc-plate havmgfitsopposite 'faces intersected grooves being disposed at less'than a right.

angle to the longitudinal grooves whereby said transverse grooves willbe disposed at an inclination to a horizontal plane when the element isin use, said grooves defining a series of polygonal portions, each oneof these polygonal portions being apertured through the thickness of theplate, saidL apertures tapering from one face ofV the plate to theother. Y

3. A battery element comprising ametallic plate having its oppositefaces traversed by intersecting grooves, the grooves extending inwardfromone face of the plate being alternately arranged with thecorrespondingly directed grooves on the other faceof the plate. v

4. A battery element comprising a metallic plate having a series ofvertical grooves extending inward toward each other, the grooves on oneface being disposed alternately with relation to the groves on theopposite face, said plate being also formed With a series oftransversely extending grooves intersecting the first named grooves'andextending inward frorn the faces of theplate, the transverse groovesextending inward: from one face ofthe plate being alternately disposedwith relation to the transverse grooves extending inward from the otherface of the plate, said transverse grooves being disposed at aninclination to the horizontal.

5. A battery element comprisinga metallic plate having on its oppositefaces a series of approximately longitudinal grooves extending inwardfrom each face, the longitudinal grooves on one face being disposedalternately with relation to the correspondingly directed grooves on theopposite face, said plate being also formed on its opposite faces with aseries oftransversely extending grooves intersecting the lirst namedgrooves,

Vsaid transverse grooves and the longitudinal grooves definingmany-sided portions on each side of the plate, these many-sided portionshaving apertures extending axially through them and intersectingthegrooves on the opposite face of the plate. Y

6. A battery element comprising a metalhc plate having on its oppositefaces a series of longitudinal grooves extending inward toward eachother, the grooves on one face being disposed alternately with relationto the grooves on the opposite faces and formed on its opposite faceswith a series of transversely extending grooves intersecting the firstnamed grooves and extending inward from the faces of the plate, saidtransverse grooves and the longitudinal grooves defin- 10 ing many sidedportions on each face of the tures being formed to flare toward theouter 1i ends of the apertures.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aHX my signature.

JOHN CLARENCE SUNDBY.

